There is nothing wrong with asking for help, but we must remember that our purpose for being on earth is to learn how to arrive at the correct solution to our own problems. We have to write the script and—as well as we can—figure out how to untangle the plot.

Harold Klemp, ECK Wisdom on Solving Problems, p. 2.

Imagine yourself in a boat. You’re enjoying the breeze coming off of the water. You see the sun dance across the surface. Everything is sublime.

You look down and see water coming into the boat through a hole. “Oh, my.”, you say to yourself. Troubles come into our lives unexpectedly. We’re floating along without a care in the world, and then a hole appears, and the water comes flowing in.

Problems in our lives arise this way. Some we can see coming. Others are unexpected. They blindside us.

Sometimes when we solve a problem, we try to bail out the water coming into our boat, hoping we can get rid of the water more quickly than it comes in. This is an example of our “system” trying to rid itself of entropy by getting rid of the excess energy coming into a system. This will work for a while, but we soon conclude that we have put a bandaid on the problem, but not solved the underlying cause behind the problem–the hole in the boat is still there.

Another solution to our leaking boat is to block the hole. This is like blocking out the entropy coming into our system. Here, we pull off our shirt or grab some item we brought with us and block up the hole. Is the hole still there? Yep. This didn’t solve the problem either. The underlying cause is still plaguing us.

Then we finally arrive upon our answer. We let the boat sink and swim to shore. We transform the system by throwing out the faulty boat and learn to swim in the water without a boat.

In the abstract, a problem is entropy throwing our system into chaos. The boat is our system. The hole is the problem. The water is the entropy overloading the system because of the weakness (hole) in it. Subsequently, the chaos overcomes the current system, and it transforms the system to a new and stable one that can withstand the water.

This is how problems transform us. When our lives are calm, we are satisfied and ride the wave of life. When a problem arises, sometimes we can block the problem, run away from the problem, or transform. Blocking or running away are temporary solutions. Transformation is the key. We have to rewrite the code that caused the problem in the first place.

Many of our problems are a disconnect with what is and how we want things to be. It isn’t the situation that is problematic; it is the way we “see” the situation. The problem is internal. Change the way you view a problem, and the problem typically ceases to exist.

A little girl and her older brother were visiting their grandfather’s farm. The older brother decided to play a trick on his younger sister. He told her that he discovered a man-eating chicken. The girl was frightened, and ran inside in fear. Then the older brother heard his little sister scream. He ran inside immediately. She was screaming at their grandfather, who was chowing down on a plate of fried chicken. “What is it?” he asked. The sister turned to him in fear and said,” It- it’s- IT’S A MAN EATING CHICKEN!!!”

A study at the Pew Research Center posits that 27% of America did not read a single book in the last year. That’s a pretty astounding number when you take into account the amount of free books online, online resources provided by local libraries, and available for free at your local library. Enough of my lecturing.

I’m grateful for reading and my ability to read. I love books. I love learning. I love nonfiction and history more than I do fiction, but I still love a great fiction story, particularly science fiction. I love reading stories of exploring other planets, space battles, laser gun fights, you name it.

When I read a book, I’m taken away. I experience the history, the adventure, the drama. It is hard to describe the feeling you get when a great book carries you away. You lose track of time.

So, thank you, to every author that has taken me to a new place. Thanks to the historians that taught me something about a civilization, a war, that told me how we looked at our world 100 years ago, 300 years ago, 500 years ago.

If you don’t read, give it a whirl. Find a topic or type of story you like. Do you like being scared? Pick up a thriller. Do you like to read about love? Find a romance novel. Do you like history and a good story? Pick up a historical fiction book. There are so many choices and so many books available. You don’t need any money. Go to your local library. Heck, reach out to your grandparents. If they are still alive, I bet they have a lot of books to lend you.

If you don’t have the time to read, you don’t have the time or the tools to write. Stephen King

In closing, I love to read and grateful for the ability to read. It teaches me; it engages me; it opens my mind to other ideas, times, and places. Pick up a book and read it. You will be different when you’re done.

When I look back at my life, I’m pleased. I’ve taken my knocks like anyone else does in life, but I’m proud of what I’ve done. I have lived a full life and there are so many good things yet to come.

I was reminiscing about my military career and all the places I got to visit and experience. Europe was one of my favorite places. I got to see a good chunk of Europe while I was assigned there and met so many great people. I also got to see some great places, enjoyed great food, and saw so many breath-taking sites.

Celebrating New Year at the Brandenburg gate the same year the wall came down was truly one of my most memorable events I was part of. I remember bumping into to college students from Harvard. I asked them, “Why the hell are you here?” Their reply: “Are you kidding? This is the best New Year’s celebration on the planet!” They were right. We shared some Jack Daniels and relished the moment.

Do I have regrets? You bet. I regret getting divorced twice. What did I learn? I learned to be a better husband. I regret filing bankruptcy twice. What did I learn? To never borrow money to buy a toy I would regret buying in a few months that made ZERO impact on my life.

The moral of this story: Get out there and do things. Experience things. Enjoy what you have while you have it. Make mistakes. Learn. Continue to do the things that scare you. What’s life if not lived on the edge?

Don’t you just love memes? I know I do. When someone on my Facebook feed puts a good meme, it’s hard not to laugh myself to tears. Check out this short video on why these have become part of the 21st century lexicon.

I’ve been a fan of Jack Canfield since I read my first Chicken Soup for the Soul book. This book was a terrific read and provides some great ideas on things we can do to improve our lives. I really enjoyed this one and highly recommend it to you, my readers. You can find it on Amazon, iBooks, Google Books, and Barnes & Noble.

This week, my Dad will join me in the gym. He’s 82, but he needs the extra exercise now that he has completed his physical therapy. He has improved dramatically and his balance is better than it was at the start.

He’ll join me on Tuesdays and Thursdays with Mom. The rest of the week, I’ll be hitting it on my own.

It’s the beginning of the week. It’s time. It’s time to do that thing you keep putting off. It’s time to write that page, learn that topic, make the speech, apply to that job, write that song, sing that tune, make that movie, build that product, start that business…

I could go on and on, but your “one thing” is different from everyone else’s “one thing”. Your “one thing” is special to you. It calls you. It warms you. It begs you.

Get out there and do that “one thing”. Who cares if you fail. You already expect that anyway. You see, the failure is part of the journey. It’s the part that happens when we try anything new. But you know, after you’ve failed a few times, you start to win. You start to get good at that “one thing”. You make progress. Before you know it, the “one thing” you couldn’t do, changes to something else you couldn’t do.

You finally realize that everything you think you can’t do, evolves to something you can do. Then you have to find something else you can’t do. The cycle continues.